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The Pennsylvania Department of Education has announced plans to offer students in special education simplified and shortened versions of state assessment tests. The results will still be included in determining whether a school has met federal adequate yearly progress standards, and some school officials question how substantial the changes will be. "I don't know if it goes far enough and takes into consideration the significant difficulties the special-education students face," one school administrator said.

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The Bristol Township school district in suburban Philadelphia has sought to improve special education by focusing on inclusion in the face of budget limitations. The success of its recent efforts stands in contrast to six years ago, when the district ranked fifth-worst in the state for inclusion. Now more than 68% of students with Individualized Education Programs are educated with their peers for at least 80% of the school day. The district has received state accolades for the improvement.

Margaret Marshall, a 76-year-old teacher who still substitutes in Washington's Issaquah school district, recalls discrimination against students based on race or disabilities in her early days of teaching. Marshall came to Issaquah in 1972 as a special-education teacher. "She was never afraid of special education," a colleague said. "She would go out of her way to make sure they had the right curriculum or tweak it so they could participate."

Athletic programs that include students who are deaf or hard of hearing are gaining momentum at colleges across the country. Last year, Deaf Digest magazine reported, 39 students who are deaf competed in Division I athletics. A linebacker at a Maryland university said he chose his school over a traditional college for students who are deaf because he felt he was good enough to compete at the Division I level.

Ever-rising expectations for students -- fueled by testing standards -- are at conflict with teachers' instincts to accept children as individuals with their own abilities and approaches to learning, a National Board Certified Teacher writes in this blog post. "I cannot accept the rigid expectations model currently in place, but I am not completely comfortable with the alternative model, either, because I share the fear that many students could be left behind academically," Anthony Cody writes.

More elementary-school students are switching classes throughout the day, a method known as departmentalization, which administrators said allows teachers to specialize in their strongest subjects. "I've got my best science teachers teaching science, my best math teachers teaching math, my best reading teachers teaching reading," one Florida principal said. "The children are truly getting the best of what I have to offer by subject matter."